In many constructions or assemblies, there are unavoidable clearances, such as gaps, joints, seams, or the like, which are difficult to seal the openings of the clearances. For instance, the gaps of adjacent sheets of drywall, the seams between adjacent ceramic tiles, and the joints between two adjacent wooden pieces are difficult to be sealed by the materials.
In order to seal or close those clearances, construction adhesives, caulks and sealants are widely applied to the clearances or gaps. The application of the caulk or sealant material seals the gap and prevents the penetration of water, air, liquids, gases, and/or debris.
The caulk or sealant material normally is provided in an initially flowable state. The caulk or sealant material is converted to a solid after it is applied to the construction gap or opening and cured. The flowable sealant is commonly contained within a container such as a flexible paper or polymeric tube or rigid tube. The container is typically engaged with a mechanical application such as a caulking gun for application to a target gap or opening in a construction. The sealant is dispensed through a narrowing nozzle tip of the caulking gun to conveniently apply sealant to the gap or opening.
After filling the gap or openings with the sealant, the applicator may have to use a tool for smoothing and/or shaping the sealant applied on the gaps and openings, so that the sealant is able to be sufficiently filled within the opening for sealing and adhering purposes. If the sealant is not smoothed and shaped by any tool, the surface of the sealant may be unevenly seated at the openings and have an aesthetically unpleasing appearance.
The applicator often uses his finger to press on the sealant applied along the length of the gap or opening, so that the sealant is able to be nicely shaped and smoothed, so as to enhance the adhesiveness between the target substrate and the sealant and to finish the assembly into an aesthetically pleasing and smooth finish.
Although the operation of shaping and smoothing the sealant with the human finger is quick and easy, there are some disadvantages. First, the sealants may contain varieties of chemicals according to the applications of sealants, wherein the containing chemicals of the sealant possibly harmful to the human skin on the finger, so that using the human finger for operating the smooth and shape process of the sealant may be dangerous to human beings. It is also cumbersome to wash the remaining sealant on the finger of human hand. It may be hard to wash away the chemical compounds of the sealant when the chemicals are stained on the finger. If the user used their nails as the rigid spatulas for spreading and shaping the sealant, the sealant tends to deeply stick within the nails, so that cleaning the finger after shaping or smoothing the sealant thereby is even more painful.
Importantly, the use of the human finger to shape and smooth a continuous bead of construction adhesive, caulk, or sealant may lead to inconsistent results in the final aesthetic appearance of the bead of material.
In order to avoid contacting the human finger with the chemicals of the sealants, the current market provides the spatulas or spreader tool for shaping the sealant. Although those tools might be able to protect the human fingers, the structures of spatulas tools do not have the abilities for universally matching and reaching the narrow openings. The openings may be formed by two objects extended to form varieties of angles therebetween, so that the spatulas can not be satisfied for optimum of manipulation of shaping or smoothing the sealants. Therefore, there is a need for an improved tool for shaping and smoothing construction adhesives, caulks, and sealants that are applied to gap or openings.